For the second consecutive year, the Lauer’s Park Elementary School in Reading, Pa., has used a bookstore credit given them by The Heritage of Green Hills, an active, 55+ independent living community in Shillington, Pa., to purchase dozens of books for the school library.

In June, Lauer’s Park Elementary School librarian, Dawn Conrad, and reading specialist, Heather Glendening, visited the Firefly Book Store in Kutztown, Pa., to select the books – all at no cost to the school thanks to residents of The Heritage.

The complimentary books are part of an initiative begun in 2012 when The Heritage of Green Hills set up a book credit exchange at the Kutztown bookstore. Since then, the residents have donated hundreds of books to the bookstore. In return, the residents have presented Lauer’s Park Elementary with sizable bookstore credits that are used to purchase books for the school’s library.

“This year, we used our $650 credit to purchase 123 books,” said Conrad. “We chose a variety of fiction, non-fiction and picture books including books from the popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Magic Tree House” and “39 Clues” series and Disney and Dr. Seuss favorites. It was so exciting selecting these books we could not otherwise have afforded. They are a wonderful gift to our school and our children.”

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The Firefly Bookstore is owned by Rebecca Laincz and her parnter, Matt Williams. Laincz is the daughter of Ellen and Paul Laincz, who are residents of The Heritage. “Many residents of The Heritage are downsizing to a smaller living space and wanted to find new homes for books they no longer read,” said Ellen Laincz. “The book credit exchange is a great way for us to give the gift of reading to local children.”